The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

26 NEWS

THEWEEK 12 September 2020

Sport

FootballEngland beat Iceland

1-0 in their first match of the

Uefa Nations League, thanks

to an injury-time penalty by

Raheem Sterling.

CyclingBritain’s Adam Yates

lost the leader’s yellow jersey

to Primož Rogličon stage 9

of the Tour de France.

FootballLionel Messi said

that he would be staying at

Barcelona, having previously

put inatransfer request.

TennisDan Evans, Britain’s

last singles player at the US

Open, lost his second-round

match to the Frenchman

Corentin Moutet in four sets.

Spectator-lessstadiums;playershavingtocluster

invirus-free“bubbles”:thisyear’sUSOpenwas

alreadyprovinga“strangetournament”,said

MatthewFuttermaninTheNewYorkTimes.

Then,lastSunday,itbecamestrangerstill,when

theNo.1seedandoverwhelmingfavouriteinthe

men’ssingles,NovakDjokovic,washandeda

default(declaredtheloser)inhisfourthround

matchagainstPabloCarreñoBustafor“hittinga

ballintothethroatofalinejudge”.Inaburstof

angerafterlosinghisservetogo5-6downinthe

firstset,Djokovichadwhackedaballtowards

thebacknettingwhereithittheofficial,whofell

tothegroundmakingchokingnoises.Itwas

clearlyunintentional,andDjokovicrushedover

toapologise,buthewasejectedfromthe

tournamentallthesame,andwillforfeitboththe

$250,000inprizemoneyandtherankingpoints

he’dearnedfromthefirstthreerounds.

ThetournamentrefereehadnooptionbuttodisqualifytheWorld

No.1,saidKevinMitchellinTheGuardian.Therulesplainly

statethatplayerswho“physicallyabuse”opponents,officialsor

spectatorswillincursuchapenalty.Evenso,Djokovicspentten

minutesarguinghis case with officials(“Shedoesn’thaveto goto

thehospital,”hepleaded), thenleftthe arenawithoutattending

hisscheduledpressconference.“It wasn’t agood look.”Ithigh-

lightsapersistentpatternof“petulance” oncourt,said Matthew

SyedinTheTimes–Djokovichascomecloseto

hurtingofficialsandspectatorsbefore–which

threatenstotarnishhisreputation.Italsomeans

theSerbhaswastedagoldenopportunityto

closethegapintheraceformostcareerGrand

Slams:hestandson17,twobehindRafael

Nadal,threebehindRogerFederer,neitherof

whomwerecompetingatFlushingMeadows.

Althoughhehasbeenonsuperbformin 20 20,

winningall 26 ofhispreviousmatches,“thishas

beenasummerofcontroversyforDjokovic”,

saidStuartFraserinthesamepaper.InJune,he

wasfiercelycriticisedforanexhibitionseries

hehelpedorganiseintheBalkans,anevent“that

featuredanoticeablelackofsocialdistancing”,

andafterwhichninepeopleinvolved–including

Djokovic–testedpositiveforcoronavirus.More

recently,hehasspearheadedadivisiveattempttoformabreak-

awayplayers’union.Djokovic’sejectionisamajor“blow”for

theUSOpen,whichnowhasnomajorstarsleftinthemen’s

draw,saidChristopherClareyinTheNewYork Times.Theone

silverlining,however,isthatwhoeverliftsthetrophyisguaran-

teedtobeafirst-t imeGrandSlamwinner–thefirsttimethis

willhavehappenedinamajorforsixyears.“Men’stourofficials

have beeneagerforanew championtoemergetochallengethe

dominanceof the Big Three, butthis was certainlynottheway

anyone expected itwould happen.”

Novak Djokovic: the price of not keeping your cool

“EoinMorgan’swhite-ballteams haveachieved

manyremarkablethingsintheir time,” saidSimon

Wilde inTheTimes.ButtheT20winthey pulledoff

against Australialast weekissure to“rank highin

the list”.Thecontest,thefirstofathree-matchseries

played atSouthampton’s AgeasBowl, looked tobe

headingforastraightforwardAustralianvictory:the

tourists, nine wicketsinhand, neededjust39 off 3 5

ballstoeclipse England’s “below-par 162 for seven”.

ThenAustraliasuffered the sort of“middle-order

collapse normallythe speciality oftheir opponents”,

saidNickHoult inTheDailyTelegraph.Theylost

fourwicketsin14balls,giftingEnglanda“route

backintothematch”.England’sattackrose tothe

occasion, withsomesuperblymiserlybowlingat the

death.Australiafinishedtwo runs short.

Two days later,JosButtler helped Englandsealtheserieswith

a“gloriousdemonstration ofhowto pacearunchase”,said

VicMarks inTheGuardian.Thewicketkeeper-

batsmanhasbeeninrichform sincetheresumption

of cricketthissummer,scoringheavilyinthe Test

seriesagainst Pakistanand top-scoringin the

secondT20against Australia.Here, hehelped

EnglandchasedownAustralia’s157 forsevenwith

anunbeaten77 from54balls,finishingthematch

with a“straight sixoffAdam Zampathatcleared

theboundary byabout40 yards”. Theperformance

underlinedthe logicof Buttler’srecent promotion

to opener forEngland inT20matches,saidMatt

Roller onESPNcricinfo.He’sthat rarething:a

rapidscoringbatsman whoalso regularlygoes

“deep” inan innings.There wereconcerns when,

citing“familyreasons”,Buttlerleftthebubbleat

AgeasBowland missedthefinalT20 match(which

Australiawon byfivewickets). But he’s expected tobebackin

action atOldTraff ordthiscomingweekwhenEngland take on

Australiain three one-day internationals.

Cricket: England’s remarkable T20 series victory

Djokovic: quick to apologise

Buttler: in rich form

Rugby union: Saracens’ woes Sporting headlines

England’s rugby captain, Owen

Farrell, has “always trodafine line

with his tackling technique”, said

Michael Aylwin in The Observer.

And last Saturday, his recklessness

cost Saracens–his club –dearly.

An hour into their Premiership

match against the Wasps, Farrell

earned his first ever professional

red card, after catching 18-year-old

fly-halfCharlie Atkinson with

aswingingarm to the head in a

vain attempt to dispossess him. So

bad was the tackle, said David Bates in The

Sunday Times, the referee red-carded him

without even consultingareplay. And Saracens

went down toa28-18 defeat.

Farrell was subsequently handedafive-match

ban, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian, and its

timingcould hardly be worse for

his club. Guaranteed relegation to

the Championship next season

(their punishment for abuse of

the salary cap), Saracens had

pinned all their hopes on winning

the Champions Cup. But now

Farrell won’t be available for their

next match in that competition–a

quarter-final against Leinster on

19 September–and if they win,

he will also miss the semi-final.

The ban will have elapsed when

England resume their international schedule in

October, but the affair has “clarified what

neutral observers have long known”, said Stuart

Barnes in The Times: that Farrell lacks the

“temperament” to be England captain, and

should be replaced withacalme rpresence.

Farrell earns his first red card